The invention relates to an inulin product.
A common characteristic of inulin products such as native inulin from chicory root is that the inulin products easily lead to gel formation when put into water, all the more so if this is done at higher concentrations such as at solids contents of 60%, 65%, or 70% or more. While such gel formation may be sometimes desirous, it is also frequently not wanted.
US-A-2001/016572 relates to a method for preparing a polydispersed saccharide composition poor in glucose (G), fructose (F) and saccharose (GF) containing at least 93.5% by weight per dry matter of fructo-ollgosaccharides constituted by a chain of fructose units with a terminal glucose of formula GFn, n and m being between 2 and 20 and comprising a content of glucose, fructose and saccharose in total less than 5% by weight per dry matter. The method consists in subjecting a substance containing fructanes to partial hydrolysis, the said substance containing fructanes of an average degree of polymerisation not less than 7 and containing glucose, fructose and saccharose in total at most 3.5% by weight per dry matter.
WO-A-2009/129985 relates to an aqueous dispersion of fructan-containing particles, wherein the D50 of the fructan-containing particles lies between 2 μm and 50 μm and the solids content of the aqueous dispersion as a whole lies between 61 wt. % and 80 wt. %. The invention further relates to a process for the preparation of an aqueous dispersion of fructan-containing particles, comprising: a) the step of bringing fructan and water together to form a mixture; b) optionally a hydrolysis step, wherein a portion of the fructans in the mixture is hydrolysed, such that at the end of this step b) between 5 wt. % and 25 wt. % of all fructans in the mixture are essentially non-soluble at room temperature; c) optionally a purification step, wherein the mixture is brought into contact with a purification agent, followed by removal of the purification agent from the mixture; d) a concentrating step, wherein the mixture is concentrated, such that the solids content lies between 61 and 80%, whereby the aqueous dispersion is formed.